Mystery author Mark Pryor spends most days as Travis County Assistant District Attorney.

Mystery author Mark Pryor spends most days as Travis County Assistant District Attorney.

Photo: Courtesy Photo

Image 3 of 3

Book review: Prosecutor is a psycopath in new Pryor thriller

1 / 3

Back to Gallery

Co-workers of Travis County Assistant District Attorney Mark Pryor in Austin should think about keeping a close, wary eye on him.

Pryor moonlights in murder mysteries, including writing a series of seven novels featuring a former FBI profiler named Hugo Marston, last appearing in 2016’s “The Sorbonne Affair.”

Pryor’s new novel, “Dominic,” is not part of the Marston series, but a sequel to Pryor’s 2015 novel “Hollow Man.” The title character is a Travis County prosecutor, a musician and, like Pryor, a native Englishman.

More Information

Dominic

By Mark Pryor

Seventh Street Books, $15.95

Hopefully, a big difference exists between Pryor and Dominic because Dominic is a psychopath.

His co-workers in the district attorney’s office are unaware of his past criminal activities, but an Austin Police Department detective is snooping around a case in which Dominic was involved.

Dominic is starting a relationship with a woman whose brother, Bobby, is a juvenile often in trouble with Austin police.

The Austin Police detective is shot to death in a rough neighborhood in East Austin by someone wearing a hoodie who approached her stopped car. Bobby becomes the initial suspect, but Dominic is questioned because the detective’s colleagues know she had been asking Dominic questions about an earlier case.

Meanwhile, an opening for a new judge materializes in Travis County. Dominic is interested, but so is an office mate, another county prosecutor.

If there is a way for Dominic to set up a situation to clear himself of the detective’s murder investigation and to obtain the new judgeship, Dominic has the kind of evil mind to come up with a plan.

The novel’s tension comes from whether Dominic has the skill and nerve to pull off a complex, manipulative plan — and whether he will get away with it.

The novel’s narrative shifts, chapter by chapter, between the points of view of several characters, including the titular character, the Austin Police detective and another county prosecutor. Readers end up forming a picture of Dominic through his own thoughts and through the eyes of others.

Pryor’s skillful narrative crystallizes in the best possible way, in the novel’s last sentence. The dialogue and the action combine form a more satisfying novel that “The Sorbonne Affair.”

Pryor, in effect, has demonstrated in “Dominic” that he can write realistically about the mind of a psychopath. Maybe that is useful for an assistant district attorney. It certainly is for a murder mystery writer.